ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Off and running for a second term, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is casting herself as a political moderate who can work across the aisle to solve the nation's problems while delivering vital services for Minnesotans.

More than 1,000 cheering Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party delegates unanimously endorsed Klobuchar for re-election in Rochester on Saturday, June 2, at the party's state convention at the Mayo Civic Center.

Despite addressing a fiercely partisan crowd in her acceptance speech, Klobuchar stressed her work for all Minnesotans and her ability to make bipartisan deals to pass legislation.

"I refuse to obey the fence lines," she said. "Instead, I get things done.

"When it makes sense to reach across the aisle for support, I do it because I continue to believe that fighting for Minnesotans isn't about what's right or what's left, it's about what is right and what is wrong."

She touted her constituent service work, ranging from preventing Minnesota auto dealerships from closing and helping parents adopt children from overseas to making sure veterans get the benefits they deserve and raising safety standards for public swimming pools.

"I put Minnesota first," she said.

Before the convention, Republicans predicted Klobuchar would try to run as a likable conciliator and try to play down her support for some of President Barack Obama's most controversial policies, such as his far-reaching health care overhaul, bailouts for Wall Street and the auto industry, and costly regulations on businesses.

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Republicans endorsed Rosemount High School economics teacher Kurt Bills to run against Klobuchar. She also will be challenged in the Aug. 14 DFL primary by two frequent but little-known candidates, Richard Franson and Jack Shepard.

In an interview after her speech, the senator said she is eager to return to Washington to attack the nation's toughest challenges, especially the mounting national debt, but she contended it will take a consensus builder to solve those problems.

"I think that we truly need more people that are going to work in the middle, that are going to knock down those partisan fences and get things done," she said.

Klobuchar said she wants a second six-year term because "there is a lot of work for Minnesota that still needs to be done." But she also wants to aggressively address "the bigger American agenda."

That starts with reducing the national debt by $4 trillion over 10 years, she said. She is part of a bipartisan group of 45 senators who favor a balanced approach to reducing the debt.

That task "will take a mix of spending cuts and revenue," she said. She favors increasing taxes for individuals earning more than $250,000 a year and capping the home mortgage interest tax deduction at $500,000.

On the spending side of the ledger, as a start she backs negotiating lower Medicare drug prices and scrapping oil subsidies.

The bigger agenda, she said, includes an energy policy that reduces U.S. dependence on foreign oil; strengthens science, math and technology education; promotes a high-quality, low-cost health care system based on the Minnesota model; and gets rid of rules and regulations that slow economic growth.

"We need to be a country that makes things again," she told the delegates.

The convention signaled a big change in Gov. Mark Dayton's relations with DFL activists. Four years ago, as he was planning to challenge the party's endorsed candidate in the DFL primary, party leaders refused to let him speak at the convention in Duluth.

This year, delegates welcomed him with a prolonged standing ovation.

"Thanks for letting me in this year," Dayton joked.

The governor told the convention they "must" give him DFL majorities in the Legislature. If they do, he said, taxes would be fairer, "millionaires would pay their fair share ... and the rest of Minnesota would pay less." He said they also would improve education "in cooperation with teachers," provide better and cheaper health care for everyone, and work day and night to create jobs.

Afterward, he said the warm reception "feels great."

"I've always considered these people my friends," he said.

Dayton, who is not up for election this year, said his top campaign priority is to help elect more DFL state lawmakers. "If we don't, we'll have more gridlock and deadlock, ... and taxes will remain regressive and unfair."

He said he also would "do everything I can" to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as only between a woman and man.

The convention's other main item of business is to elect a batch of Obama delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September.